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Nine Months – Voyager Part 1
By Kudara
Disclaimer: Star Trek Voyager and all who sail in her belong to
Paramount/Viacom and no infringement of copyright/trade marks is
intended.
Rating: Mature
Feedback: Always welcome, feedback is what encourages me to keep
writing. Please let me know what you like and what you dislike
about the story.
Revision History: 01/06/06; minor revision 01/24/07
Summary: The former captives meet up with Voyager.
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Chapter 37 – Stardate 53009.28 (Jan 4, 2376 9:34am)
“Captain, a vessel just came in range of the long range
sensors.” Ensign Kim reported, looking toward the Captain from
his communications console.
Captain Janeway looked back at him then over at Tuvok
inquiringly, “The vessel has been tentatively identified as a
Federation vessel but it does not match any known hull
configuration in our databases. It is heavily armed and is
approaching our location at warp 9.97.” He looked up from his
tactical console briefly.
Janeway frowned, the months since the disappearance of B’Elanna
Torres and Seven of Nine had been difficult for the ship. Lt.
Carey tried his best but he just didn’t have the skill and
intuition that B’Elanna had possessed. It had resulted in them
becoming more careful and suspicious. Where once she would have
waited for the ship to come closer especially given the
tentative identification of the ship as a Federation vessel,
Janeway now erred on the side of caution and ordered, “Go to
yellow alert.”
Everyone on the bridge waited tensely as the unknown ship closed
the distance between them.
“Captain they are hailing us using a Federation code,” Kim
exclaimed.
Janeway traded hopeful glances with Chakotay, “Maybe another
ship taken by the Caretaker?” he suggested.
She shrugged, “Onscreen Mr. Kim.”
“This is the Federation Starship…,” her voice trailed off as she
registered what she was seeing. There was a very tall russet
haired woman standing in the middle of the other ships bridge,
but what caught her attention was the appearance of Seven of
Nine at one of the bridge consoles behind her. The former Borg
was barely recognizable except for the tell tale ocular implant,
her long hair was gathered loosely at her neck, and she wore a
button up royal blue loose fitting tunic shirt that fell to mid
thigh and black pants.
“Captain Kathryn Janeway of Voyager, I presume,” the russet
haired woman spoke.
“You have one of my crewmembers,” she blurted out, still
shocked. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Paris react as
well at his helm console.
The russet haired woman lifted one eyebrow, “One of your former
crewmembers, whether or not she changes that status is
completely up to her.” The woman’s voice was not harsh or
unkind, but it was unyielding.
Captain Janeway’s attention immediately snapped from Seven to
the unknown woman. “And who am I speaking to?” she asked
carefully.
“Elizabeth Janeway of the Starship Artemis, formerly Colonel
Janeway of the United States Marine Corps.” The woman responded
calmly, as if she hadn’t just stated that she was from an
organization that had ceased to exist over two hundred years
earlier, not to mention her claim that she was a Janeway.
Kathryn Janeway stared at the woman, taking in the features, the
level grey eyed stare. “I’m sure you understand that’s a bit
difficult for me to believe.” She finally commented.
The other woman nodded with an amused smirk on her face. “Yes I
did consider that, Seven would you please send over the briefing
I prepared for Captain Janeway.” She turned and looked at Seven
who after a few moments at her console nodded to her.
“Receiving data file transmission, Captain,” replied Kim from
behind her, drawing her attention.
“I’ll leave you to read over that, you can contact us once your
done.” The russet haired woman announced.
Captain Janeway turned back around quickly, “Wait there was
another crewmember…”
“B’Elanna is doing fine,” Elizabeth Janeway interrupted her,
“you’ll understand once you read the file.” She grinned, “She’s
currently in the engine room trying to teach some 350 year old
women modern engineering.”
She wanted to insist that she be allowed to see this for
herself, but she was also burning with curiosity about the data
file that had been sent over. Once again she glanced at Seven,
noting how relaxed and human the former Borg woman appeared. The
ex-drone certainly didn’t appear to be in any distress, though
she was giving Paris a rather narrow eyed look that puzzled her.
She had thought Seven and Paris were friends, or as friendly as
Seven had used to be with anyone.
“Alright, I’ll contact you once I and my senior officers go over
the information you sent.” She replied.
Elizabeth Janeway nodded to her then turned and glanced at Seven
and gave her a short nod. The view screen went blank as the
channel was closed from the Artemis’ end.
“Harry forward that data to the briefing room, Tukok, Chakotay
with me,” she ordered as she headed toward the briefing room
doors. “Oh, and stand down from yellow alert.”
“Captain,” Tom Paris caught her attention.
“I’ll let you know Lt. Paris,” she said not unkindly. She had
heard that he was dating one of the Delaney sisters, not that
that had anything to do with his concern for someone who had
been his friend before they started dating.
Twenty minutes later she sat back in her chair in disbelief, the
briefing that had been sent over was just that brief, but what
it did cover was shocking. The abductions, the centuries of
suspended animation, the genetic manipulation, the forced
participation in those ‘games’ and holding the loved ones as
hostages. Janeway shook her head at the unjustness of it, the
life these people had been forced to live.
The information didn’t say exactly what had happened to B’Elanna
and Seven, but Janeway could extrapolate what had most likely
happened. Had they been paired together? With complete
strangers? Closing her eyes and rubbing the bridge of her nose
she admitted that she knew the answer to those questions, they
had been paired together; the last of the abductees from Earth
had been taken from suspended animation four years earlier.
The idea of the two women being forced together was appalling.
Two people more likely to come to blows if kept in the same area
for an extended period of time she couldn’t imagine. Though she
remembered B’Elanna as being more bluster than action, the
half-Klingon had been unrelenting in her dislike and distrust of
the severed Borg. In fact one of the reason’s she had sent the
two of them on the mission was to try once again to get B’Elanna
to see that Seven wasn’t the threat the half-Klingon thought she
was.
She didn’t want to think about the implications of them being
forced into a sexual relationship with one another; the
psychological damage from their captivity would have been enough
without that added in, and not just for Seven, but for B’Elanna
as well. With any luck Seven had accepted it as a physical act
necessary for their survival, with none of the emotional baggage
another woman might have suffered.
The look Seven had given Paris suddenly gained new meaning, and
even though she didn’t really want to, she wondered if Seven had
formed some type of emotional attachment to B’Elanna, she knew
captives often did that with their captors but B’Elanna hadn’t
been…her thought trailed off as she considered the fact that
B’Elanna had been in control of Seven’s punishments. She
swallowed, she didn’t want to think of B’Elanna purposefully
hurting Seven, but given their past she couldn’t dismiss the
idea either. Shaking her head she drove the thoughts back, she
just didn’t have enough information to go on.
Three months of searching before finally being persuaded by
Tuvok and Chakotay that the two were lost. And all the time they
had been twenty light years away from the moon where they went
missing.
Looking around the table she noticed that Chakotay looked as
dismayed as she felt, and Tuvok… looked thoughtful, and
concerned if she were to guess by the small furrow between his
brows.
“B’Elanna and Seven?” Chakotay murmured disbelievingly, “I
wonder who was chosen as a fighter?”
Tukok raised one eyebrow, “Lt. Torres. All those chosen to fight
were structurally modified to be six foot three inches tall;
Seven of Nine’s height has not changed.”
Chakotay gaped at him, “That’s taller than I am.”
“Yes,” replied Tuvok curtly.
Chakotay grimaced, “I must have missed that piece of information
in all this.” He said somewhat apologetically.
Tuvok merely nodded.
Janeway who had been listening to their discussion silently up
until now came to a decision and broke into the discussion, “I’d
like the Doctor to go over Seven and B’Elanna, we know nothing
about the Ilanar, I know they said that there was nothing they
could do about the genetic modifications that were made, but we
have no reason to believe them without verifying it. They might
have missed something simply because their not familiar with our
species.” Not only that but she wanted to see how the two women
interacted with one another.
The two men considered her words for a few seconds and then
nodded. “They might have missed something,” Chakotay commented
hopefully.
She stood, “Let’s see if I can get Elizabeth Janeway to agree,
she seems rather possessive of Seven.” She commented
disapprovingly. She strode to the door, completely missing the
incredulous looks both officers shot in her direction.
After the doors shut behind her Chakotay looked over at Tuvok,
“So do you think they’re related?” he asked.
“I do not have enough information to make that determination
Commander.” The Vulcan stated, then after a pause continued,
“though they do, initially at least, seem to share certain
characteristics.”
“That’s what I’m concerned about,” Chakotay commented heading
toward the doors.
“Indeed,” Tuvok raised one brow thoughtfully, and followed him.
“I don’t believe that Ilanar made a mistake, but if Seven and
B’Elanna have no objections, then they may of course see your
Doctor. If they agree, I’d like to accompany them over, along
with a few other people. I’m sure Doctor Miller would love to
see your medical bay.” Elizabeth Janeway was saying to Captain
Janeway when they walked onto the bridge.
“Of course,” answered the Captain at her most diplomatic, “How
many?”
“It will depend on who wants to go, but I’ll make sure that the
number will be kept to at most ten of us including Seven and
B’Elanna;.” Elizabeth answered casually.
Janeway absorbed this before nodding cordially, “We will make
arrangements to transport you over.”
“That will have to wait until I find out whether Seven and
B’Elanna agree to your proposal. I’m sure you will understand
when I say that none of us are particularly interested in
feeling as if we are being forced into doing something, or as if
we are forcing others into doing something. Not after our
experiences,” Elizabeth stated evenly, staring directly at
Captain Janeway.
The two of them regarded one another for a few moments, finally
Captain Janeway nodded, “Yes, I can understand why you would
feel that way. If you would contact us once you have asked
them.”
“I’ll let you know shortly,” Elizabeth assured her and then cut
the communication.
“Seven wasn’t on the bridge that time. So is she overly eager to
protect her crew or is something else going on?” Captain Janeway
spoke aloud.
“Seven of Nine and B’Elanna Torres are the only experienced
members of their crew. Elizabeth Janeway might not wish for them
to return to Voyager.” Tuvok theorized.
Captain Janeway considered his statement, frowning at the blank
view screen.
“Captain, incoming transmission from the Artemis,” Kim
announced.
“That was quick,” she commented, “onscreen.”
A different woman was standing by the captain’s chair this time
and there was no sign of Elizabeth Janeway. She was as tall as
Elizabeth had been, blond haired and blue eyed. “Hello, I’m
Christina Myers, Elizabeth’s third in command. She had to go
find someone to mind Mary and Ruth since their favorite sitter
will be coming with us. There will be seven of us including
B’Elanna and Seven.”
Bemusedly Janeway replied, “Alright, let us know when you are
ready to transport over.”
“Mommy, mommy,” shrieked a young blonde headed girl as she came
running into view, waving a piece of paper.
“Carol don’t yell,” chided Christina as she knelt down to see
the picture her daughter was waving. “Did you make that for me?
That’s very beautiful, thank you.”
“Sorry, she wouldn’t settle down until she brought it to you,”
another voice said off screen just before the owner, yet another
blonde appeared, carrying a toddler on her hip.
“It’s ok, Captain Janeway meet my wife Dr. Nancy Miller, my
eldest Carol and my youngest Rebecca.” Christine introduced.
Greetings were exchanged then Nancy ushered the children out
with the murmured comment to Christina, “Lee’s keeping them
along with Mary and Ruth, I’ll meet you in the transporter room
in ten minutes.”
Christina watched their departure a fond smile on her face then
she turned back to her view screen, “Sorry for the interruption.
As soon as everyone’s in the same place we will contact you. It
should be around ten or so minutes.”
Captain Janeway nodded and the view screen blanked immediately
afterward.
“I guess it was something else,” commented Chakotay still
staring at the blank screen.
Pinching the bridge of her nose she nodded, the reality of the
other ship crashing into her consciousness. There were almost as
many children as adults on the Artemis, what did they want, the
obvious answer was that they wanted to travel back to earth with
them. A heavily armed, heavily shielded ship would be a definite
help, but this one was crewed by completely inexperienced
personnel with families.
“Captain, what’s going on?” asked Tom Paris confusedly.
Coming to a decision she said, “I’ll let you two read the
briefing sent over.” She indicated Ensign Kim and Paris. Her
voice took on the snap of command, “But the information is to go
no further that this room, it’s not meant for gossip. So I’d
better not hear anyone in the hallways or mess hall whispering
about B’Elanna and Seven, there’s nothing amusing or titillating
about the situation they were forced into to survive. Am I
clear?”
She looked at the two men who stared back at her confused, “Yes
Captain,” they readily agreed. The two of them glanced at one
another confusion turning into uneasiness as they realized the
implications of her order.
**************************************************
Chapter 38 – Stardate 53009.43 (Jan 4, 2376 10:54am)
‘She looks so much more Klingon now,’ was Kathryn Janeway’s
first dazed thought, as B’Elanna materialized on Voyagers
transporter platform, and Voyager’s captain got her first look
at the half-Klingon. ‘And so tall,’ before B’Elanna had been her
height, now she towered above her.
“Captain Janeway,” Elizabeth Janeway was the first to step off
the platform, the other women, including her two crewmembers,
waiting for her to go first. “This is my wife Maria Rodriguez;
she introduced the dark haired, dark eyed Hispanic woman
standing beside her. I believe you already met Christina Myers
and her wife Nancy Miller, and this is Tanya Montego,” she
introduced another tall, dark haired, dark eyed, Hispanic woman,
“and of course you know B’Elanna and Seven.” She smiled, but her
grey eyes were serious.
It was a not so subtle way of informing her that Elizabeth
Janeway saw B’Elanna and Seven as members of her crew, not
returning members of Voyager’s. Tuvok’s comment came back to
her, and she wondered how accurate her Security Officer might
have been, was this just the desire to keep the only two
experienced people she had, or was it something else. Gazing at
the two women, she was startled to see the wariness in their
eyes, as if they weren’t either entirely certain they wanted to
be here or perhaps weren’t certain of their welcome.
Did they blame her for not finding them? She wondered suddenly.
“I’m glad to see you two are alive and well, and I’m sorry we
stopped looking for you. There just weren’t any signs of what
had happened to you; even the shuttle had disappeared without a
trace.” Janeway apologetically explained.
“The robots were thorough in enforcing their order that no sign
of them was to be left,” Elizabeth said darkly, anger in her
eyes.
B’Elanna shrugged, “I doubt you would have been able to find us
even if you found the planet we were being kept upon, the
shielding Kryayh used to hide the compound was pretty advanced.”
She filed away the information, planning on brining up the
subject of just why the two had been taken in the first place,
once they were in the briefing room.
“Hey Starfleet,” B’Elanna greeted Harry Kim, who was handling
the transporter controls, with a smile.
“Ensign Kim,” Seven nodded to him.
“B’Elanna,” Harry finally managed, “Seven,” he began blushing
furiously as he stared at the two women. “I’m glad both of you
are alive and well,” he added, his voice more emotion filled,
“we missed both of you.”
“We missed you too, Harry.” B’Elanna answered. Janeway couldn’t
help but notice the use of the plural, or that Seven nodded in
agreement, apparently not having any issue with B’Elanna’s use
of it.
As Janeway watched the two women she was surprised and relieved
to see that they appeared to be at ease with one another. She
watched as Seven moved to stand beside B’Elanna, and the
half-Klingon immediately reached out and placed one hand on the
blonde’s back. She was forced to revise her initial concept of
their relationship; no matter how they might have started, it
appeared that there was some level of affection between them
now.
“Hey, I’ll try and catch up to you later, ok.” B’Elanna assured
him.
Harry nodded to her, and the group proceeded directly to the
briefing room.
Once they were all seated, and Janeway had introduced Chakotay
and Tuvok, she asked the question that had been foremost in her
thoughts since finding out what had happened. “Why were Seven
and Lt. Torres taken?”
Elizabeth sighed, “Wrong time, wrong place,” She replied simply.
“We were returning from a mission when we were transported down
to the surface and ordered to capture them. We learned from the
Ilanar that the ships sensors had tracked their shuttle,
determined they were human, or at least part human, and they
matched one of the psychological profiles Kryayh had developed.
They contacted Kryayh and he ordered that we were to obtain
them.”
“And you didn’t see anything wrong with obeying those orders?”
Janeway asked, angrily. Suddenly, she was the subject of looks
ranging from disapproving to almost hateful. To Janeway's shock,
Seven was one of the ones giving her a look verging on hateful,
it was nearly as cold and anger filled, as some of the looks the
former drone had given her when first severed. Just as abruptly
as the emotion appeared on the women’s faces, it faded away,
replaced by almost uniform controlled looks that unsettled her.
“Did you just scan the briefing we sent you?” asked Elizabeth
coolly.
Janeway regrouped, clearly grasping from the brief reaction she
had seen, that she was missing some essential fact. “I read
something about nerve inducers but the briefing you sent us
didn’t go into a lot of detail.” She replied defensively.
“When I first woke the robots used a bioelectric field to
approximate the effect the nerve inducers would have on Seven.”
B’Elanna spoke up. Her carefully even tones, so unlike the
B’Elanna Torres that Janeway recalled, sounded odd coming from
the half-Klingon. Janeway couldn’t remember B’Elanna ever
reacting quite like this. “I don’t think it could have hurt more
if someone skinned me and then stuck my bleeding body in a vat
of acid.” The half-Klingon explained shortly. “My fucking
temper...”
“Lt. Torres,” Janeway tried to interrupt, angry at the language.
The half-Klingon simply increased her volume and continued,
“earned Seven three fifteen second punishments of that. After
watching her suffering because of me, I did everything I could
to make sure it never happened again. I failed at times, and I
felt lower than targ shit every time, whether there was
realistically anything I could have done to prevent it or not.
Please, do not imply that disobedience to those robots was a
simple matter of conscience.” Her voice was moderately closer to
its old angry growl by the time she finished speaking.
“You will not speak to me in such a disrespectful manner
Lieutenant Torres, I understand you have been through a lot, but
that’s no excuse…” she trailed off watching in surprise as Seven
reached out and gently touched the half-Klingon’s shoulder,
giving her an understanding look. B’Elanna turned and looked at
her, their gazes met and the half-Klingon took a deep breath and
nodded. Both of them completely ignored her.
Seven turned her attention to Captain Janeway, “Neither B’Elanna
or I blame them for capturing us.” Seven interrupted coldly,
“When they received the order to capture us their first reaction
was to refuse. It is painful enough for B’Elanna and I to know
that all of the hostages were punished for this one refusal. I
wish that they had not refused at all, I regret that we were the
cause of them being punished.”
“Disobedience was not a simple matter of conscience; it was a
matter of life and death for their hostages.” Nancy interrupted
coolly, “While adults can take up to six activations of the
nerve inducers without being permanently brain damaged, our
children can only take three. So no, as much as they regretted
it, the continued freedom of Seven and B’Elanna was not worth
the lives of all of three hundred adults and two hundred and
seventy children. Not to mention that after killing everyone in
Alpha Squad, they would have still taken B’Elanna and Seven.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize how painful or how damaging the
nerve inductors were,” Janeway apologized shaken, and cursing
herself for not having realized that particular fact from the
briefing.
Elizabeth replied, “Perhaps I didn’t make it as clear as it
could have been, it’s not exactly a subject we like to dwell
upon,” in a conciliatory tone.
Captain Janeway felt Tuvok and Chakotay, sitting on either side
of her; relax from where they had tensed up as soon as the mood
in the room had gotten hostile, even if it was a very controlled
hostile.
“I can understand that,” she allowed.
There was a moment of silence before Elizabeth commented, “We
have some questions for you, regarding the genetic engineering
that was done upon us and our children, and how the Federation
is likely to treat us if we were to make it back to Earth.”
Janeway missed the sharp sideways looks the former Marine got
from several of the other former captives at the way she had
stated the question. B’Elanna and Seven in particular were
puzzled by it, but did not say anything.
Janeway shifted uneasily in her chair, “I believe the laws
banning genetic engineering were in place before you were
abducted?”
“Oh yes, I fought in what you call the Eugenics Wars. I started
out as a Junior grade Lieutenant and was promoted to Major by
the end of them.” Elizabeth commented in a matter of fact tone,
“As did Christina, in the Canadian Air Force, and I believe
Tanya joined the US Navy during them.”
“Yep, do your patriotic duty, save America from the supermen,”
commented Tanya sardonically.
“So yes, we are familiar with why the genetic laws came into
existence,” Elizabeth assured her.
“So you must understand why they exist, we cannot encourage
genetic engineering, thus the bans on what fields they can go
into. That way parents have no incentive to have it done.”
Janeway answered earnestly.
“Except we did not choose to have it done,” replied Elizabeth.
Captain Janeway considered the women, “I understand that, it’s
why I wanted the Doctor’s opinion, to see if it can be
reversed.”
Elizabeth regarded her evenly, “And if the Ilanar are correct
and it cannot?”
“I’ve never heard of anyone being exempted from it,” Janeway
temporized.
“In other words you don’t think the Federation would make an
exception in our case, forced or not.” Maria spoke up for the
first time.
Her jaw firmed, “Genetically engineered humans cannot be allowed
to dominate significant fields. If they are allowed to enter the
technical fields they will dominate them simply because they are
more intelligent than non-genetically engineered humans. That’s
why the law has existed unchanged for over three hundred years.
You fought against them taking over then, surely you must
understand why these laws must be enforced now.” She spoke with
conviction.
“So, no matter how much we or our children are victims in this,
we can’t be allowed to compete.” Elizabeth responded evenly.
Janeway frowned, “Hopefully it won’t come to that, the Doctor is
very good at coming up with unorthodox medical procedures.”
Elizabeth nodded, “But if he can’t,” she pressured.
Exasperated with the obdurate woman she replied, “That’s up to
Federation Legal, not to me. I can’t make that determination.”
“Yes, but would you want one serving on your ship, competing
with normal humans for promotions,” asked Maria in a casually
curious tone.
Janeway shot her a sharp look, knowing fully well that her
answer would be an absolute no. She would have problems with
knowing about such a crewman, would be inclined to set them much
higher standards before promoting them over normal humans. “As I
said that wouldn’t be up to me. And if you wanted to travel with
us I would have no problem assisting you with training any of
your people to serve on the Artemis.”
She received several coolly appraising looks after making the
comment, but she lifted her chin and returned them steadily.
“I guess this means we definitely don’t have positions any more
on Voyager,” remarked B’Elanna to Seven.
“What do you mean?” asked Janeway.
“We were both genetically altered for intelligence, strength,
quickness; both of our tendencies toward homosexuality were made
more dominant, and encoded so they would be passed to any
offspring. B’Elanna was also genetically altered for height, the
genetic code for her Klingon physiology was emphasized, and some
of her hormonal and endocrine reactions were changed to allow
her more control over her emotions,” answered Seven.
“One of the few things Kryayh did to me that I actually
appreciate,” commented Torres lightly.
Janeway stared at her, astonished and aghast at hearing such a
sentiment coming from the half-Klingon. She was certain that the
old B’Elanna Torres would have been furiously angry at the idea
of anyone forcibly altering her in any way. It just emphasized
to Janeway how much the two of them had been altered, and more
disturbingly they didn’t even seem to realize how different they
were from before their capture. It was like all of their
emotions had become muted, rigidly controlled.
“One more question, please,” Nancy leaned forward.
“Alright,” responded Janeway warily.
“How do same sex couples have children or are they allowed to?”
she asked.
“We don’t discriminate against homosexuals anymore,” Janeway
answered quickly, feeling good about finally being able to
respond positively to the women’s questions. “Male couples can
apply to adopt or find a surrogate mother; female couples can
adopt, be inseminated with donor sperm or apply for ova fusion.”
“Apply?” Nancy asked curiously.
“Yes such procedures must be done at approved facilities because
of the possibility for genetic engineering, to ensure that such
a procedure does not occur.” She answered.
“And for us, since we were specifically engineered to pass on
certain traits to our children, do you think we would receive
approval to have more children.” She asked directly.
“I’m sure they would have no problem with adoption or
insemination,” Janeway replied uneasily, tiredly realizing that
this was yet another minefield.
“But not ova fusion with my wife,” Nancy indicated Christina,
staring at her challengingly.
Carefully she replied, “That wouldn’t be up to me, it would be
up to a medical board.” Privately she suspected the answer would
be a definite no.
“I suspect they would not, as you have already guessed,” Tuvok
spoke up finally, drawing some of the attention off the Captain.
Nancy looked at him, “We suspected, but could not be certain.”
He nodded after considering her and her answer for a moment.
“I think that before we continue this discussion we need to find
out whether or not the Ilanar are correct. If your original
genetic code can be restored then none of what we discussed will
apply.” Janeway stated forcefully, tired of the discussion and
feeling that she had been set up somehow to simply affirm their
suspicions.
“And if we don’t want to even if he can come up with a safe
way?” asked B’Elanna Torres her arms crossed over her chest.
“Then I’ll order you to Lt. Torres, your still a member of this
crew under my command, no matter what you seem to think.” Her
temper snapped, and she stood up. “You don’t even seem to
realize how much you’re not the person you used to be, I can’t
believe that the B’Elanna Torres I remember would even say such
a thing. She wouldn’t stand for someone making those types of
changes to her.”
“I resign then, I no longer wish to be under your command. I
won’t allow you to trample over my rights a second time.” Torres
replied coldly, no sign of temper besides the tone at all. “So
are you planning on keeping me prisoner now, or am I allowed to
return to my ship.”
Jarred by the tone, the reminder, and her final words, she sat
down once again, “No, Miss. Torres you are not a prisoner on
this ship.”
“Any such decisions cannot not be made until the Ilanar’s data
is confirmed,” Seven stated, breaking the silence. “It is
premature to be discussing this matter.” It was obvious that she
was trying to break the chilly silence that had fallen in the
room.
“True,” replied Nancy. “Let’s go ahead and find that out for
certain before we discuss things any further,” she replied
staring at Captain Janeway with obvious dislike.
Elizabeth looked around the table, silently taking everyone’s
opinion. She turned to Janeway and nodded, “Alright we will see
this sentient hologram of your’s. I’ll admit I’m pretty
interested in meeting him.”
“As am I,” murmured Maria ending her watchful evaluation of
Captain Janeway in order to glance at Seven.
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